Hosted bitcoin mining costs come down to one number most of the time: the electricity rate, quoted in dollars per kilowatt-hour. But a $0.06/kWh quote and a $0.07/kWh quote can trade places once you account for what each rate actually includes — and what gets billed on top. Here is how to read a hosting quote honestly before you ship a single machine.
The all-in rate is the big lever — read what it includes
Electricity is the largest ongoing cost of running an ASIC, because the machine draws power 24 hours a day. That is why the per-kWh rate does most of the work in your monthly bill. The catch is that the same headline number can mean very different things.
An all-in rate bundles everything into one price: power delivery, cooling, rack space, networking, physical security, and monitoring. Fathom Labs hosts at $0.07/kWh all-in at our Southeast Texas facility, with no performance fees and no share of the bitcoin you mine. If you are shipping your own machines rather than buying from us, bring-your-own hosting is $0.08/kWh with a 10-unit minimum.
All-in vs pass-through: two ways providers price the same power
This is the distinction that trips people up. An all-in rate is one bundled number. A pass-through rate quotes a low base electricity price and then itemizes the extras — demand charges, transmission and capacity fees, a management fee, rack and setup — as separate line items. A pass-through quote can look cheaper on the headline and end up higher once those add-ons post to your invoice.
So ask one question of every provider: is this rate all-in or pass-through? If it is pass-through, ask to see a sample invoice with every line item on it. For a full breakdown of what those line items are, see our hosting cost guide.
Onboarding is a one-time cost, not a monthly one
There is usually a cost to get a machine received, installed, and hashing, plus any import handling if it ships from overseas. This is a one-time fee, so it affects your first month and your payback math but not your ongoing monthly economics. Because the exact figure depends on your setup and where the hardware ships from, ask us for the current number rather than assuming — and make sure you know whether shipping and import duty sit inside or outside it.
The fees that scale with your success (and how to spot them)
The fees that hurt most are the ones that grow as you earn more. A performance fee — a percentage cut of the bitcoin your machine mines — is the clearest example. It sounds small at signup, but it compounds over the life of the machine and rises exactly when mining is going well and bitcoin's price is high. Across a fleet, a "cheap" rate paired with a revenue share can quietly cost more than a slightly higher flat rate.
A flat, all-in rate with no revenue share is not automatically the cheapest option — but it is predictable, and the upside stays yours. Fathom Labs charges no performance fees and takes no share of mined output.
How to put every provider on the same footing
To compare quotes fairly, convert them all to the same shape:
- Take the effective $/kWh including every add-on, not just the headline rate.
- Add the one-time onboarding cost, spread over how long you plan to run the machine.
- Treat any revenue share as an increase to that effective rate.
- Confirm the uptime terms and how power is measured.
The provider with the lowest headline number is not always the cheapest once those pieces are in. When you want real figures instead of a provider's example, model your own costs with the profitability calculator — it uses live bitcoin price and network difficulty, so you can see exactly how the hosting rate flows into net revenue.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to host a bitcoin miner?
Hosting is billed per kilowatt-hour of electricity the miner uses, usually somewhere between about $0.06 and $0.10/kWh in the US depending on the provider and region. Fathom Labs charges $0.07/kWh all-in at its Southeast Texas facility — one bundled rate covering power, cooling, security, and 24/7 monitoring, with no performance fees. Your real monthly cost is that rate multiplied by your miner's power draw, running continuously.
What does an "all-in" $/kWh rate include?
An all-in rate bundles electricity, cooling, facility overhead, physical security, and monitoring into a single per-kWh price, so your invoice has no surprise add-ons. A pass-through rate instead quotes a lower base electricity price and itemizes demand charges, transmission fees, and management fees separately. Always ask which model a provider uses, and for a pass-through quote, ask to see a sample invoice.
Are there fees beyond the electricity rate?
Sometimes. Watch for one-time onboarding or installation fees, which are a fixed cost rather than recurring, and — more importantly — performance fees or revenue-share arrangements that take a percentage of the bitcoin you mine. Revenue share scales with your fleet and with bitcoin's price, so a low rate paired with a percentage cut can cost more than a slightly higher flat rate. Fathom Labs charges no performance fees and takes no share of mined output.
Is it cheaper to host or to mine at home?
For more than a machine or two, hosting is usually cheaper to run and far more reliable. Residential power often costs $0.12 to $0.20/kWh, and a home cannot cool or power an ASIC like a Whatsminer running flat out around the clock. A facility at $0.07/kWh with industrial cooling and uptime monitoring changes the math — though because the result depends on bitcoin's price and difficulty, it is worth modelling your own numbers before deciding.
Hosting a fleet and want the math for your exact setup? Talk to us and we will walk through it with you.